Government of Wales Bill

moved Amendment No. 81:"After Clause 155, insert the following new clause—" ““REGISTER OF LEGISLATION (1)   It shall be the duty of the Welsh Assembly Government to establish and maintain a register of all Assembly legislation. (2)   In this section ““Assembly legislation”” means all legislation made by the National Assembly for Wales, the Welsh Assembly Government, the Welsh Ministers, the Welsh Deputy Ministers and staff of the Welsh Assembly Government. (3)   All Assembly legislation shall be made in a form prescribed in the standing orders of the Assembly. (4)   The form and location of the register shall be prescribed by the Welsh Assembly Government. (5)   All Assembly legislation made prior to the coming into force of this Act shall be published and entered in the register within twelve months of the date of the coming into force of this Act.”” The noble Lord said: My Lords, I pay tribute to all involved in discussing what we on these Benches think is a vital amendment, which would ensure that all legislation made by the Assembly is published, transparent and accessible to everyone. I thank those who have been working so hard in informing us of their concerns: the CAB, the British Medical Association, the Law Society and other organisations such as law firms that deal with these matters. They are concerned that they are not able to easily access all the legislation deriving from the Assembly, more so now that the Assembly will have greater powers. They have been a great help with all the information that they have given us. I also thank the Bill team—who have really stretched themselves to the limit in trying to ensure that we understand exactly what is possible—and the Minister, who has been handling this. Without taking a long time this evening, I want to see our amendment carried. I think that the Minister is moving in that direction. We need a register that people in all walks of life who have any cause for concern can access. The current publication scheme of the Welsh Assembly Government undertakes to publish subordinate legislation, including draft subordinate legislation laid before the National Assembly for consideration in plenary session. The Welsh Assembly Government also publish a weekly bulletin. However, there is no commitment to register all legislation, and that is what the amendment seeks to rectify. We have gone a long way on this. We have the promise of online access to all legislation. However, in the past few days, things have moved in the direction of having hard copies of all legislation available to all who need to access it. This amendment has been redrafted in the light of the helpful comments of noble Lords. Responsibility relating to legislation rests with the National Assembly for Wales, and responsibility for ensuring that there is a register of legislation falls on the Welsh Assembly Government. The simple request is that everybody who is affected by legislation should have access to it. The amendment would not change or overturn legislation that was passed prior to the Act coming into force. It requires the compilation of an index of all legislation made by the Assembly since its creation and a register that can easily be accessed. In Committee, the Minister confused me with all the different sorts of legislation and all the talk of ways in which different types of legislation were made known to the public, and I might have confused other people. We need some codification and full publication. The Minister may say that that does not happen in the UK Parliament, but that does not matter because, if Wales can lead in this, the rest of the United Kingdom can follow. I beg to move.